The current airport facilities on a 150 ha piece of land, will be entirely upgraded, with the expansion programme including a realigned runway with all associated airside infrastructure such as taxi-ways, aprons (which are aircraft parking bays), a new boutique terminal building, cargo facilities and fuel storage amenities.

• The new Cape Winelands Airport on the Lichtenburg Road (R312) outside Durbanville has launched the first round of public participation for the expansion of the airport.
• Some residents of Durbanville have expressed their concern of noise pollution by departing and landing aeroplanes over Durbanville and surrounding areas.
• Interested and concerned parties have time until 8 December to comment on the planned development.

The new Cape Winelands Airport on the Lichtenburg Road (R312) outside Durbanville has launched the first round of public participation for the expansion of the airport to a commercial airport similar to Lanseria airport in Gauteng.

Some residents of Durbanville have expressed their concern of noise pollution by departing and landing aeroplanes over Durbanville and surrounding areas on Facebook groups.

Interested and concerned parties have time until 8 December to comment on the planned development.

The airport, formerly called the Fisantekraal airport, is an ex-South African Air Force aerodrome built around 1943 during World War II – initially for the operation of Lockheed Ventura bombers.

It has since served as a general flying airfield for the general aviation sector and currently facilitates unscheduled operations, including recreational flying and private hangarage, flight training, aircraft maintenance, charter operations, crop spraying and aerial banner towing.

It was bought in 1993 by the late Doug Delange, who died in an aircraft crash near Oudtshoorn on 3 February 2018. In November 2020 business entrepreneur Rob Hersov and his friend and business partner, Nick Ferguson established Cape Winelands Airport Ltd and bought the Fisantekraal airfield in November 2020.

Complete transformation

According to Deidre Davids, spokesperson on behalf of Cape Winelands Airport, the airport is set to undergo a complete transformation.

The current airport facilities on a 150 ha piece of land, will be entirely upgraded, with the expansion programme including a realigned runway with all associated airside infrastructure such as taxi-ways, aprons (which are aircraft parking bays), a new boutique terminal building, cargo facilities and fuel storage amenities, says Davids.

The size and scope of the planned upgrades necessitate an environmental impact assessment (EIA), she says.

“The assessment, spearheaded by independent environmental practitioners, is currently underway and includes a public consultation process.

“This is the first public participation process and another round of public participation will take place in the new year as well,” says Davids.

The airport is located approximately 10,5km northeast of Durbanville and it is approximately 25km northeast of Cape Town International Airport.

“It has good connectivity in the region with linkages to Drakenstein, Wellington, Paarl, and Stellenbosch,” she says.

The site currently gains access from three major roadways, namely Klipheuwel Road (R302), Lichtenburg Road (R312) and Koelenhof Road (R304).

According to the pre-application draft environmental scoping report for the proposed expansion of the Cape Winelands Airport, the new airport will be capable of facilitating long-haul, wide-body flights by airlines and unscheduled operators from across the world.

Phased development

The proposed project entails the expansion of the existing airport in a phased development approach, which will include the realignment of a primary runway with an orientation of 01-19 and a length of 3.5km and the initial retention and refurbishment of a secondary cross runway with an orientation of 14-32 and a length of 700m, according to the report.

Landside and airside infrastructure will also be phased based on market demand. Landside infrastructure will include, but not be limited to, passenger and cargo terminals, a hotel, aircraft hangers and services, airport facilities, bulk fuel storage facility, internal and external road infrastructure, potable water and sewage treatment infrastructure, petrol filling station, biodigester, solar photo voltaic and stormwater management infrastructure.

Comments received from interested and affected parties will be used to inform various reports and studies and will be addressed by the relevant professional team as part of the in-process scoping report and later the in-process EIA report.

Visit https://phsconsulting.co.za/proposed-expansion-of-cape-winelands-airport/ for more information and the scoping reports.